Taking Down the Tent Was Trouble

I purchased a new Ozark Trails tent from Wal-Mart for my latest camping trip. Most tent manufacturers are about the same, and they seem to have evolved to the point where putting up the tent is a breeze. Yet, in their zeal to improve the tent-erecting process, they forgot the second half of the equation: decommissioning the tent after its use.

I knew right away when I was unpacking my tent that there was going to be a problem putting it back inside its storage case. As I unzipped the storage bag, the tent started popping out like a tube of Pillsbury biscuits! I thought, "How in the world am I going to squeeze the tent back into this microscopic bag without the use of a 500 ton press?"

I was right. After our camping trip, when we were tired, dirty, and just ready to go home, packing up the tent proved nearly impossible. I opted to just wad it up in the back of the truck and take it home to reattempt stuffing it into the bag after my anger subsided.

I’d love to let the monkeys who make tents know that most consumers, such as myself, would be more than happy to pay the extra 50 cents or so for about 10 percent more material in the storage bag to ensure that the last few minutes of our camping trip isn't a complete nightmare.

This entry was submitted by Chris Clouser and edited by Rob Spiegel.

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That goes double for sleeping bags. My latest one won't evan go into a bag twice the size of the duffle type bag it came out of. They must pack these things under vacuum or something. either that or machine packed. Whichever it is stil not fairon us consum. The original bag han;t been wasted as we keep tent pegs in.

I haven't bought a tent yet that didn't need some 'reinforcing' with duct tape or weatherproofing. Packing them away is often a nightmare even with the included instructions. Solution: get a hammock with a canopy.

The most amusing tent which I have seen, Verdon Gorge, Provence, Frogyland, was a UK designed Gortex dome tent from a company called Wild Country.Circa £350 in those days, a lot of dosh.Possibly September about 3 decades ago. Goretex works on the principle of energy driven osmosis/diffusion, so a waterproof jacket has the body heat and offloaded the sweat.Trouble was the La Palud Municipal campsite was prone to overnight gorge mist and when the sun came up - Goretex in reverse, the poor English woke up when they were wet, every morning for about a week.

Scojo fae Scotyland - well the soggy English made jokes about my accent, I prefer UK indigenous resident!

I just re-sealed the seams on my ~25 year old dome tent using Seam Sealer that I got from REI. It worked very well and is very rugged. It cost about $7 per tube and I needed a little more than two tubes. The tubes come with a brush that screws on in place of the cap. Squeeze lightly as you brush. I did all the seams in well under an hour.

Yes, the canvass tents were a riot, Cadman-LT. They had the weird quality that when it was raining on the tent and you were on the inside, if you touched the side of the tent, the water would begin to enter where you touched.

William K, when I grew up in Michigan and tents were canvass, they certainly couldn't be put away damp. Now that I'm in New Mexico and tents are made of material that sheds water, everything has changed.

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